10 significant bands in the Ukrainian mathcore
This time in the series of "10 iconic bands" we will tell about mathcore genre — extremely niche and far from the most popular among other -core artists. The monsters like The Dillinger Escape Plan, Car Bomb, PsyOpus, Ion Dissonance, The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza and others actively existed/exist abroad, but we hardly have a dozen bands playing in this genre in Ukraine, unfortunately.
Well, it is not surprising, now heavy guitar music is not in the best condition, and such niche and difficult to understand genres are by no means very interesting to the young public. And even if such bands as The Dillinger Escape Plan retire, then it is not surprising that in a few years there will be no one left in the mathcore (in our for sure).
However, in the native expanses, there were and are some fascinating and noteworthy bands representing this genre and by some miracle survivors in the current underground scene.
One of the few active bands of today and one of the most interesting. As a part of musicians from Odesa, widely known in narrow circles, the guys were spotted in Septa, Facepalm, Debbie Mills and Борода Ивана (Beard of Ivan). It all started with one song on Mayakovsky’s poems, and then it happened — the first EP, a bunch of enthusiastic reviews, concerts and subsequent releases. A band now has three EPs, several singles, live albums and a compilation of previously released tracks in the form of a full-length release of "The Parnassus". And of course, in the appendage to the car with the releases, there’s a whole cart with clips — funny, gloomy, bright and memorable. However, all this concerns the live performances of The Nietzsche, because every time the musicians manage to surprise with something completely new.
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Chaotic hardcore/mathcore band from Kyiv, that was formed in 2008 and lasted about three years — near 2011, a band went to the studio to record a full-length album, which never was released. chorus: failed recorded a demo in 2008 and were remembered for their bright performances mainly in Kyiv and at the Neformat Fest in 2010.
Founded in 2005, the quartet lasted about six years but left behind one of the brightest and most memorable releases in heavy Ukrainian music. Unfortunately, over the years of its existence, the band performed not so actively, and almost half of the concerts took place in neighboring Russia (not surprisingly, mathcore scene there was much more developed) during tours in support of new material. However, in more detail about +\- I was telling in another article.
Balancing between the genres of deathcore and mathcore, the joke band and side project of the Hedonistic Exility members have evolved from sofa entertainment at leisure to a full-fledged killing machine. Somewhere in 2010, guitarist Alexei and vocalist Maxim composed several tracks for fun — a dumb and pumping deathcore with a pig and without any sense went so far that recording a full release did not take long. There were already speeds, and blasts, and crazy mathcore — the composition "Outro" from the debut "Satyriasis XXI" is still, in my opinion, the pinnacle of Dysphoria. Following this release, two full-lengths followed with an already more serious approach and texts. And at the moment, the participants are working on a new release.
Perhaps the oldest band after +\- — SCHOOL [18]-[17] gathered in the Dnipro in 2006 and lasted almost 10 years (if we assume that after the release of its last record, the band stopped its activity — there have been no news since none). Nevertheless, over the years of life SCHOOL [18]-[17] did not cease to experiment and surprise the listener by balancing the intersection of genres and conquering new heights. However, it was a very strange and extremely difficult for perception band, as they say, at your own peril and risk.
A band from Kyiv Victim of Chance lasted about 4 years — during this time the guys managed to record a full-length album, EP and several demos. And if the material on the same release was more raw and simple, then the subsequent tracks on "The Weapon Is You" were demolished on the spot with their pressure, madness, and technique — a parallel can be drawn with the PsyOpus band. Amazing!
Борода Ивана (Beard of Ivan)
In 2008, Andrei and Ivan (hence the name of the band — Andrei had the nickname "Beard") discovered the mathcore and foreign flagships of the genre and then it started — the guys began to play, compose, and then staffed. The first few performances bordered on a level between hell and drunken fumes, then there were already more conscious and adequate concerts with Dysphoria, ЗЛАМ (FRACTURE), etc. They left behind a demo record and "Self-titled" EP. In 2012, the ban went to reboot but has never returned fully since then.
Fun fact: one of the band members owns a comic book store in Odesa (presumably On the Bus — editor's note)
Vocalist Ivan left the band Борода Ивана and went to do good deeds in DOOMEYE — an even more evil and chaotic version. For almost 5 years of existence, they managed to release only one EP and several videos that could claim the title of "best domestic videos in the genre", if not for the existence of The Nietzsche... A band does not show signs of life at the moment, therefore we hope and wait — their record turned out to be very cool and criminally short!
ImhorA
Having played in various bands and genres, the musicians decided to try something new — this is how ImhorA appeared in the city of Sevastopol. For a short time of existence, they managed to play in Moscow and several times in their native expanses. The band has a demo record and EP "The Onion Gore". In 2011, the band was frozen and has not been active since. And one of the participants even became a DJ.
Kyiv based band Daunhaus gathered in early 2011 to play dirty and chaotic music in the spirit of the early work of Daughters. Over the years of activity, they managed to ride concerts in Ukraine and the CIS countries. Separately, I remembered a performance with the cult band The Chariot in the capital's Bingo in 2012. Several splits and a demo record were left behind, and in 2016 the band evolved into the noise rock band Puss.
As of 2019, only a few of the ten bands are left, and sometimes they are going through hard times or have occupied their niche. Dysphoria gained crazy momentum, but couldn't make it together — one of the most promising bands in the CIS simply stopped in development or reached its peak, or maybe just a minute of fame against the general popularity of this kind of music. Nevertheless, we hope for the best and for new bands in the mathcore, since new names appear on the world stage, and old people continue to delight with fresh material.
This article is part of a series of materials on the development of various underground musical genres in Ukraine. Early in the series:
https://www.neformat.com.ua/rubrika/10-znakovih-gurtiv
